Page 37 of The Wolf King's Demand

“Come on, put her down,” called Xander, Lexi’s mate, from the doorway. “Time to play for a while.”

Reluctantly, she released her man. In reality, she would have liked him to stay by her side, but she wasn’t going to stop him from enjoying himself. Just because she couldn’t shift was no reason for him to miss out.

She was making her way up to her room when someone grabbed her arm. On instinct, she drew back her fist, but her assailant jumped clear, and she saw, to her relief, it was Madison.

“Damn it, sis! You scared me!” she accused.

“Sorry,” said Madison, grimacing. “I guess you’ve been through a lot recently. I didn’t mean to make you jump.”

Addison’s heart thumped like a drum, and her nerves thrummed on high alert. “Yes,” she said. “I’m feeling a little wound up right now.”

“I just wanted to talk to you about that nanny you’ve got. You know, the one from the rogue pack.”

“What about her?” asked Addison.

“She seems a bit off to me,” said Madison. “She kept out of the way of everyone tonight as if she was trying to hide herself, and when I tried to talk to her, she snubbed me.”

“I think she’s just been through a lot,” Addison replied.

“Hmm, maybe,” said Madison. “Keep an eye on her, won’t you?”

“I think you’re over-worrying, but yes, I’ll keep an eye on her,” Addison promised. She felt a tension in her gut that she hoped was still just her strained nerves.

TWENTY-TWO

TYLER

Later that evening, when Tyler returned from his run, he took the chance to drag Addison away from her family. She gave him a questioning look, but he just grinned at her mischievously. Addison rolled her eyes, but a smile was already playing on her lips.

He tugged her toward the gardens.

“Where exactly are we going?” she asked.

“Anywhere you want,” he replied simply.

In truth, he just wanted time alone with her, no matter where that might be. Everything had been chaotic since she’d been shot with that poison dart, from frantically trying to save her life to getting out of the kingdom and reuniting her with her family. And the whole time, he’d been solely focused on making sure she was alive and safe.

But now they were here in her home kingdom. They could finally relax and enjoy their time together here.

Now, all he wanted was to hold her and make her feel loved and safe in turn. And he needed to feel that she was safe and alive. That she hadn’t died in that garden or on the healer’s floor.

And selfishly, he wanted her to himself for a while. They’d been surrounded by people all day, and not without good reason. There were active threats against them. They didn’t know exactly where they were coming from.

Still, it was beginning to irritate him not having his mate to himself for a bit. Even his wolf felt anxious, pacing inside.

They began with a walk through the gardens, with Addison pointing out different things to him along the way.

“My sisters and I used to climb those trees over there. I was the only one who could climb super high on that twisty one for the longest time. It was a great hiding spot until Lexi had a growth spurt, and suddenly, she could invade my territory.”

Tyler chuckled at the mental image of the two sisters fighting over space in a tree.

“Luckily, I had lots of little hiding spots around here,” Addison continued. “There’s a little waterfall over there that had just enough space for me to squeeze into. Or there’s a bench hidden behind the roses that was overgrown with morning glories until I took it over.”

“Sounds like you were a menace in hide-and-seek,” he teased.

She laughed. “I really was. I was always the best hider, and don’t let the others tell you otherwise. Although Taryn was the best at covering up her scent so that we couldn’t find her.”

Then he spotted something odd just ahead of them. A treehouse was built up into a giant tree with a rope ladder hanging down.

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